The Evolution of Man parody T-Shirts have been done to death. But none have been done with Darth Vader. And well, anything with Darth Vader is awesome, right? It’s simple, sweet and to the point. The people around you will dig this shirt. Conversation starter for sure.

The Brands Are Heating Up in Texas is a guest post written by Blake from You Design It, a site that focuses on online t-shirt design.

It is heating up in Texas and I’m not just referring to the temperature. There are quite a few t-shirt lines making some noise down in the Lone Star State. There is a saying that goes every thing is bigger in Texas and there is also the saying that bigger is better. If that is the case, then does that mean that all these indie t-shirt lines from Texas are bigger and better? We’ll let you be the judge because there are a lot of brands to choose from.

We’ve profiled eight up-and-coming indie brands from Texas that we think you should check out. If you’ve already seen some of these, no worries…they are definitely worth a second look.

Grits Apparel is made just how you like it by serving tha good stuffî. Those are just two of the catchy concepts you’ll be hit with by visiting their store. The t-shirt designs in themselves are very cool but the overall experience you get when watching their creative videos and getting to know the Grits story is mind-blowing. You really feel like No Grits, No Glory after you get to know what they’re all about.

My favorite tee from Grits is the appropriately named Greasy Spoon. Iím a sucker for the dark blue/light blue combination with white but I also think the design embodies the Grits look and feel.

Sleepy Dan is another t-shirt line much like Grits that consistently brands their theme throughout their website and store. That theme is sleep and everything related to the love of sleep. In many cases this includes having to wake up from a good sleep. Sleepy Dan is all about enjoying the sleep you get but not getting too much because work needs to get done.

My favorite shirt is Sleep Attack because the premise behind the design is that the alarm clock hates the alarm as much as we do. Now that is something I can relate to.

Fur Face Boy was a long awaited project for its founder, Ha Mai, as he went from job to job doing graphic design at all levels of the business world. The original Fur Face Boy was actually not a boy at all, but rather a nickname for Ha’s dog named Bear Mai. As you will see on some of the t-shirts there are animated references to Bear as well as an animated character known as the Fur Face Boy.

You can also watch this episode on Vimeo or blip.tv and download and sync all episodes to your iPod, iPhone or iPad by subscribing for free to Co-Tee TV in the iTunes Store.

Coty’s Thoughts:

Goody Two (Vans) by The Good Child.Pros: There really seems to be a renaissance of indie T-Shirt designers coming out of the state of Texas. The Good Child is yet another example of a Texas based brand doing it right. There is a lot to like about the box that The Good Child sent over to me. The first thing that caught my eye was the attention to detail. Each of the T-Shirts were hand-rolled and then tied by string. The ends of the string was even burnt to prevent it from unraveling. Another nice touch was the sticker that was tucked between the T-Shirt and the knot of the string. It’s always awesome when you order a T- and get a free item – plus, people love stickers! As for the T-Shirt, The Good Child uses American Apparel blanks. This means that each tee is 100% made in the USA. The blanks are from LA and the tees are printed in Dallas, Texas. The screenprint on this T-Shirt was very well done. The placement of the graphic on the front, back and inner neck was perfect and the inks used were bright, vibrant, and bold. It’s also tagless and features a screenprinted neck label instead. I was very impressed by both the packaging and the T-Shirt – both were well done.

Cons: There aren’t really any cons to speak of. The only thing that does come to mind, though, is the relatively high price tag ($29.99). However, I’d have to say that the amount of detail placed on the product and the experience and joy of opening this finely tuned T-Shirt makes this price well-deserving.

Man Up by Sir Riffkins The Third (Threadless).Pros: This shirt features a unicorn oozing rainbow bloOd and being cut up by a biker dude version of Chuck Norris with Hands made out of chainsaws. Plus, I can’t tell if that’s Chuck’s wiener or parts of his ab’s protruding out. Need I say more?

DeadBuryDead has definitely stepped up their game since I first featured them on this blog. I really enjoy the look and feel of their current line of tees – very vintage without trying to hard to be vintage. It also looks like they’ve caught the eye of the people at Fab.com. They are the latest indie brand to be featured on this daily deal site that emphasizes good design.

The DeadBuryDead T-Shirt are priced at $16 a piece, that’s 36% off the retail price of $24.99. Remember, Fab.com is invite only so if you’re not already a member, here’s an invite from ME to YOU.

Happy 3rd Birthday Ugmonk! As has become tradition, Ugmonk has released a Limited Edition T-Shirt celebrating its birthday. This years Limited Edition set is as sexy and sleek as ever. The black T-Shirt features a bold “3” with a folded appearance. Each set comes with an Ugmonk laser-engraved natural leather coaster with painted edges and is packaged in a one string-tie chipboard portfolio (14″ x 9.5″ x .5″). Talk about attention to detail!

I have been a big fan of Jon Wye’s since nearly the start of this blog. He was one of the first people to reach out and contact me about their products and was even one of the first to send me a product to video review. Of course, I’ve been trying to pay it forward ever since – blogging about his T-Shirts and belts whenever I get the chance (and even stopping by his brick and mortar shop in NYC!).

And now is a great chance to talk Jon Wye. For a limited time, you can score an amazing deal on some awesome Jon Wye tees. For $30 you will get 3 Jon Wye tees. One of the tees is guaranteed to be new, either seen on the website or not yet released. The other two t-shirts are any combination of new, vaulted designs from years past, or tees that we purposed for display/ modeling shoots (laundered of course). As a bonus, all orders will come with a Jon Wye key chain or Pirate Chef sticker. Now that’s a great deal for $30! Go pick up a Jon Wye Time Capsule pack now from the Jon Wye online shop.

Oh. My Goodness. The latest T-Shirt from our friends at 604Republic is pure geek awesomeness! The shirt is called Beam This and it features what appears to be Darth Vader uppercutting somebody from the Starship Enterprise. Hah! I’ve always been a Star Wars guy. What’s odd is that as a kid, I always thought that Star Trek was a cheap knockoff of Star Wars – until later down the line when I learned that Star Wars was released after Star Trek. Still, everything about Star Wars is greater than its Star Trek counterpart. In my eyes, anyway.

I am no grammar nazi, but come on Old Navy. If you’ve been commissioned to design T-Shirts for institutes of higher learning then you better be 100% correct with your grammar. Apparently, Old Navy was not. According to this Yahoo article by Piper Weiss, Old Navy made a pretty big flub when they decided to spell “Lets” in the phrase “Lets Go” without the appropriate apostrophe. If you’re scratching your head then you should know that the correct grammar would be “Let’s Go.”

“The mistake is particularly glaring considering the concept of the tee: it’s a partnership between Old Navy and 70 esteemed institutes of higher learning. Duke, Syracuse, University of Texas and Notre Dame, to name a few, all signed on to be represented on the Old Navy tee. Now they might be regretting that decision. According to Fashion ETC, Syracuse University officials are leading an investigation into who approved the copy. Maybe it’s the same person who signed off on this Wet Seal t-shirt.”

Let’s make sure, that this is the last Old Navy T-Shirt we feature here. Go UH Warriors!

Pop Culture by David Schwen is an awesome minimalistic tee featuring popular icons as soda (or “pop” depending on where you live in teh country) cans. When I first saw this T-Shirt I said to myself, “I have to have this.” Can you name the rest? And with the $10 Threadless Sale going on right now (and ending tomorrow), it was the perfect time to pick it up. It features some of the most recognizable characters, including R2-D2, Superman, Charlie Brown, and the Cookie Monster.

Clintees is an amazing little brand based out of New York with a brash collection of T-Shirts featuring iconic faces and logos with a distinctly subversive edge that will separate you from the rest of the kids on the street.

“I adore Clint ever since I shot his workshop for Dwell. Whenever I wear my I Can’t Afford To Love NY shirt I get stopped on the street. It’s bold and makes people smile.” -Bradford Shellhammer, CCO and Co-Founder at Fab.com

I have to agree with Shellhammer, that I Can’t Afford To Love NY tee is an eye catcher and it speaks the truth. I still love New York, though, even if I can only afford it two weeks at a time. Right now you can score an amazing deal on these Clintees designs at Fab.com. Normally $20, they are on sale for the next two days for $16. Fab.com is an invite only website featuring some of the best designed products on the planet at a discount price. If you’re not yet a Fab.com member, here’s your invite from me to you. You can thank me later.